


The Crown Jewel

by russomaha



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Bodyguard, Chivalry, Dorks in Love, Dorks in love being awesome, Ethics, F/M, Fluff, Gallantry, Humor, Moral Dilemmas, bodyguard!Caine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 18:18:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13664595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/russomaha/pseuds/russomaha
Summary: Where Jupiter hates balls and Caine is being her knight without shining armour.





	The Crown Jewel

**Author's Note:**

> _Here's a piece of good old-fashioned gallantry for you to (hopefully) enjoy._

Jupiter hated balls. Not those, you pervs, the ones where one had to mingle with other Entitled. They were lavish and pompous events, agonizingly drawn-out and teeth-pullingly boring. Who on earth (er, in the ‘verse?) would perceive conversing with a bunch of stuck-up hypocrites for anything but a punishment for the sins committed in the previous life?

“Huh,” Jupiter realized with a start, “for me it actually _is_ the punishment for the sins committed in the previous life. Thanks, Seraphi.”

But, alas, attending those glorified torture-traps was an inescapable duty of a recently recurred queen. Or so her political consultants and diplomatic advisors told her.

Meanies.

Speaking of torture-traps and meanies. Her Royal Couturier (yes, with the capital letters, he obviously thought _a lot_ of himself) had insisted that Queen should look imperial and imposing while enduring the drudgery of the interstellar vanity fairs, so Her Majesty simply _must_ wear stilettos. Hence her current predicament.

Jupiter’s feet _hurt_. They weren’t just aching or sore, no, it was agony. Horrible sharp cramps just above her toes shot up towards her ankle every five minutes or so. It’d been hours, for gods’ sake. Hours of incessant standing, walking and dancing. She had eventually dove into a quiet corner to recuperate a little and was discreetly looking around in hopes to detect any kind of flat surface to plant her butt on and finally take the weight off her feet. Sadly, there was a tragic lack of any sofas, chairs, stools – hell, even a driftwood log would do at this point – in the vicinity. To make matters worse, other ladies in attendance seemed not to notice the absence of any sittable furnishings and actually enjoy themselves.

“Fucking Entitled,” Jupiter mumbled to herself resentfully, “ _they_ had literally _millennia_ to adapt to the skyscraper heels.” She sent a death glare to the offending footwear. How come the space dames gave the impression of being so comfy in those hellish contraptions that looked even more intimidating than those of Jupiter’s? And even more gorgeous, to add insult to injury.

“Is Your Majesty all right?” came a barely audible murmur from behind her right shoulder. She turned to glance up at her very concerned lycantant guard and shot him a reassuring smile. At least tried to. There was no use trying to fool him, though, he could probably smell her distress with that super nose of his.

Oh, that nose! Jupiter couldn’t help but let her gaze linger on the object in question. That nose definitely deserved to be admired. Being attached to a talented tracker, it was a priceless asset for her Royal Guard, yet the queen considered it to be a major Crown Jewel for a much different reason. Freakishly acute sense of smell aside, it was a thing of beauty. The Roman emperor of Roman noses, Plato’s eidos for an olfactory organ… And the man behind it wasn’t that bad either. Not that he would believe her if she ever told him.

Caine’s steady, unerring presence was the one thing that made the balls bearable. As strange as it sounds, Jupiter didn’t see much of him back at her alcazar. He had shifts guarding her, of course, but she was so hopelessly busy during the day, franticly trying to catch up with the duties of a novice ruler – there were not enough hours in her life to do that, it seemed – and she couldn’t really ask for his presence at night. With all her power, she couldn’t.

 _Because_ _of_ her power.

With her being Mighty Majesty and stuff, nobody had been telling her ‘no’ anymore. Forget about orders, anything she asked for – politely – had been being fulfilled to a tee, with a daunting enthusiasm. Hell, people had been trying to meet her wishes before she even had time to come up with them. With the staggering amount of authority she had, it was just too easy to abuse it. Even _a hint_ at the invitation would have been coercion, and Jupiter outright hated the idea of Caine being coerced into anything, let alone –

Actually, she wasn’t even sure what she wanted to do with him – she just wanted him _there_. By her side. She was sure she’d get inventive once it happened. It never would, though.

It’s not like she could hope _he_ would initiate anything.

Because he was so – so _Caine_.

He was hopeless when it came to initiating anything. (Well, he was great at initiating emergency rescue operations in order to save her precious royal rear from imminent danger. But other than that – nope, nothing. Nada. Ничего другого.)

It was a stalemate situation.

Still, Caine was the guard who always, _always_ accompanied her to the Entitled gatherings, as they were considered high-risk situations since the queen had to leave the safety of her own alcazar, and he was, admittedly, the most efficient of her guards. If only he didn’t have to trail at a deferential distance behind her, which complicated Jupiter’s feasting her eyes upon (all right, all right, just plain old ogling) his profile.

“Your Majesty?” a whisper, more insistent and worried this time, brought her back from the realm of devastatingly handsome profiles back to earth. A planet. A moon. Where the hell was this shindig taking place, again?

“My feet are killing me. What I wouldn’t give for a chair right now,” she confessed with a quiet moan.

His reaction was as instantaneous as it was startling.

Without a word, Caine slid down on one knee in one fluid movement, with a welcoming nod inviting his Queen to use the other one as a seat.

In other circumstances, she would have been appalled. In other circumstances, she would have protested. But her feet hurt so much and it was such a sweet, considerate, _kind_ gesture that it would have been a pity to let it go to waste. So she carefully perched upon the offered limb, trying not to put too much weight on it (not that Caine would have noticed otherwise, not really, but _still_ ) and feeling horribly exposed and self-conscious as many eyes in the room turned her way.

A moment later a warm hand came to rest on the small of her back, supporting – both physically – from falling backwards – and morally – from falling prey to all those prying eyes.

And Jupiter didn’t care anymore.

–––

On the way back, while they were being transported aboard her own ship, Jupiter whispered “Thank you, Caine, for what you did back there. That was very chivalrous of you.”

“It was nothing, Your Majesty,” he rumbled back quietly, ducking his head, evidently embarrassed, yet the delighted blush quickly sprawling across his treacherous half-albino skin told her, loud and clear, “ _It was my pleasure_.”

–––

At the next assembly using guards and servants as furniture was all the rage. They didn’t look too pleased about that.

“Fucking Entitled,” Jupiter mumbled to herself resentfully.

**Author's Note:**

> _We do not celebrate Valentine's Day in our country, but I thought I should still post that story. If it makes one single person's heart warmer on the holiday, then my work has not been in vain._
> 
> _Inspired by Caine’s profile (seriously, that nose!) and general awesomeness._   
> 
> 
> _NOT inspired by the scene at the end of The Shape of Water, since the story had been written before I saw the movie. Seeing the same scene play out on the big screen made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside._   
> 
> 
> _Btw, The Shape of Water is a really great movie on interspecies romance. If you’re into JA fandom, chances are, you’ll love it as much as I did._


End file.
